What is prolactin?

Hormones play a very important role in the bodyrights. In the female body, there are a number of hormones that work in many ways for reproductive function and support of motherhood in terms of milk allocation and lactation. Perhaps the most important hormone in this case is prolactin. Let us consider in more detail what prolactin is and what its functions are.

Prolactin: definition and function

Prolactin (aka lactogen hormone or mammothropine) is a hormone produced in the pituitary gland.

From the alternative names of this hormone, you canto reveal that prolactin affects the formation of milk in lactating and pregnant women, and during the puberty of the girl, he also is engaged in the formation of mammary glands and the ductal environment around them. It is noted that prolactin occurs in other parts and organs of our body. True, his other actions are almost not studied.

Structure of prolactin

Being a hormone, prolactin has a proteinnature and is a polypeptide. It contains about 200 amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A special element in the structure of prolactin is the presence of 3 disulfide bridges, which, with a certain effect on them, result in different types of prolactin. Pituitary cells are dealing with non-glycosylated prolactin and secrete it.

Prolactin receptors

The action of hormones is largely related to the actionreceptors. In the case of prolactin, it is customary to talk about transmembrane receptors, whose action is not only at the membrane level, but also in the interaction with various intracellular structures. The greatest accumulation of such receptors, naturally, is observed in the mammary glands.

But besides special female organs, the receptorsProlactin is found in other organs and parts of the body. For example, they talk about the localization of such receptors in the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys and adrenal glands, organs of the reproductive system, even in the muscles of the skeleton. It is difficult to say where the prolactin receptors are absent, they are even in some parts of the central nervous system.

Violation of the amount of prolactin

The normal content of prolactin in the body is notworries a woman, but, on the contrary, promotes the realization of maternal functions, the main one of which is the feeding of a child. But sometimes, due to various reasons, the level of prolactin in the body changes, and this can lead to bad consequences and violations. Of the violations of prolactin, the most critical are the increase and decrease of prolactin.

An increase in the amount of prolactin in the body can be caused by pharmacological (application of drugs), surgical (related to the transferred operations), etc.

The consequences can be from minor,for example, violations of the menstrual cycle, to the most severe - violations in the mental health of women. Also, there may be a decrease in sexual desire, an increase in breast size, etc.

The reasons for the decrease in prolactin are similarthe reasons for its increase, but they in turn are largely related to the course and development of the process of pregnancy. The most common disorder associated with a decrease in prolactin in the body is called Shihan syndrome.

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